Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi extended the lava emergency proclamation as a flow heading toward Pahoa slowed after reaching an area of less steep terrain Thursday.

A Thursday morning overflight of the lava flow showed that it moved about 170 yards since Wednesday, less than half the rate of advancement over the past week.

Lava had been moving at an average rate of more than 400 yards a day since Nov. 24 and is about 2.5 miles intersection of Pahoa Village Road and Highway 130, which is near the Pahoa Marketplace.

The proclamation, signed by the mayor on Wednesday, declared that a state of emergency continues to exist in Puna because of the danger from the lava flow and extends the emergency declaration for another 60 days.

If the lava continues on its present steepest-descending path, it will threaten the Pahoa Marketplace area in a couple of weeks or so, officials estimated. Puna Community Medical Center is located there, as are businesses such as Malama Market, Pahoa Fresh Fish and Pahoa Hardware.

However, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists said the flow’s ultimate path is hard to predict.

“The flow has reached an area where several lines of steepest descent nearly converge due to flat topography. Until the flow passes this area of flat topography, the future flow path is uncertain,” geologists said in a Thursday update.

The lava could stay on its current path, go in a different direction or split up and travel on both paths, geologists said Wednesday. One east path could take it to the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision.

“It will be early next week before we will definitely know which way it will go downhill,” said Mike Poland, a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicist.

Civil Defense officials said the lava does not pose an immediate threat to area communities.

Civil Defense officials planed to update the status of the flow and review individual response plans with Pahoa Marketplace business owners at the Pahoa Community Center Thursday.

In addition to the meeting with Pahoa Marketplace merchants, the county will hold a community meeting about the lava flow at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Pahoa High School cafeteria.

Also Thursday, state Department of Education officials were planning to meet with civil defense officials Thursday to work out details and logistics for the field trips to visit parts of the cooled lava flow that reached Pahoa, DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said. The department also wants to explore “what are the learning opportunities that this presents,” she said.

It’s a pilot program that will help officials decide whether to offer lava-viewing opportunities to the wider public, he said. Access currently is restricted because of safety concerns, and authorities have arrested several sightseers for trespassing in the area.

“Right now we have an opportunity with things having improved safety-wise,” Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira said.

He added the students are getting the first public peek because the lava turned their “lives upside-down.”

Approaching lava from Kilauea volcano has forced several Pahoa schools to close, requiring students to be rerouted to area schools and a temporary site based on grade level and which side of the flow they live on. The state Department of Education built the $9 million temporary site in a parking lot in case the lava hits Keonepoko Elementary School.

The goal is to make the field trips informative and educational, Oliveira said.

He said scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and experts from the University of Hawaii are expected to help provide students with information about topics such as the science of eruptions and the different kinds of lava flows.

The students also will go on a guided walk to where the flow crossed Apaa Street in October.

Kilauea volcano has been erupting continuously for more than 31 years, but a flow that started down a flank in late June has burned a house and crossed a rural road.

The flow front has remained stalled for several weeks, allowing the county to reopen a section of Pahoa’s main road.